The Prince of Ambition by Francisco V. Martins

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Synopsis

Dom Infante Henrique, Henry the Navigator, was a complex and enigmatic man. During his long life, he participated in the conquest of Ceuta, wresting it from the Moors, and founded a school of navigation that served as a center of study for all of Europe, indeed the world. Henry was instrumental in sending intrepid explorers down the coast of Africa in an attempt to round the cape and reach India, blocked to trade with Europe since the fall of Constantinople. The eventual rounding of Africa by Vasco da Gama was not accomplished in Henry's lifetime but he did accomplish many great and evil things because of the complex man he was. Henry comes to us in history as abstemious and highly religious with none of the base appetites prone to men. In The Prince of Ambition, the author has attempted to put some fictional meat on those historical bones.